Late diagnosis of a solitary fibrous tumour of the parapharyngeal space in a continuous positive airway pressure-treated patient

Solitary fibrous tumours of the parapharyngeal space are a very rare finding and have been described less than 10 times in the English literature. The Authors discuss a clinical case of a solitary fibrous tumour in the parapharyngeal space in a 77-year-old male, who had begun treatment for a newly discovered obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome with a continuous positive airway pressure - device one year prior to diagnosis. This rare location of an uncommon lesion often gives rise to difficulty in diagnosis or to misdiagnosis and the Authors, therefore, made a review of the scientific literature and analysed the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures used. The importance of this report lies mainly in two aspects: on the one hand, the discussion concerning the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and on the other, the need of a thorough evaluation in obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome patients before treating them with a chronic device like the continuous positive airway pressure device.